Costa Rica

Costa Rica Day 3: Tinamaste

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Last Updated on October 24, 2021 by Carolyn

Tinamaste View
Ocean View from Hills of Tinamaste

Exploring Tinamaste

Our 3rd day in Costa Rica was a day to finally explore! One of Wally’s major priorities was to look at some real estate and he was bound bent to find something to buy. I still wasn’t sold, after all, I’d been in Costa Rica a whole of 2 days. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m not a plunge right in kind of gal!

We’d chosen to stop and explore the Tinamaste area as it has an elevation of 764 meters (2506 feet), high enough to have a cooler climate than the beachfront areas like Dominical and Uvita. It is approximately 30 minutes by car to the beach, and 30 minutes to San Isidro de El General, a large city with a huge farmers market. Tinamaste is approximately a 3 1/2 hour drive from Juan Santamaria airport and also has its own organic farmers market and a thriving expat community.

Tinamaste Real Estate

We’d inquired about some “fire sale” lots we’d seen listed on Craigslist before we left on our trip (and no, fire sale doesn’t mean there’s been a fire, it’s just a term used to convey that something is priced to sell). As the law of attractions dictates, the lot that we were interested in after having been listed for months if not years, had just gone under contract the day we inquired. This is an exert from the Craigslist listing:

1.5 acre Oceanview property in Tinamaste with view of tallest waterfall in Costa Rica. 30 Minutes to the beach and Pacific Ocean. Fire sale previously $80,0000, now $40,000

Well as it turns out, I received an email the evening we arrived in Tinamaste from the owner of the lot saying the lot might be available, the buyer was having trouble getting the money, and were we still interested in seeing it? I quickly wrote him back and said we’d be in contact him the next morning.

We met the seller. Rick, in Tinamaste and headed to the lot. Along the way we oohed and ahhed at the scenery as we headed out of town on a dirt road. We drove through the semi-mountainous area, being teased along the way with distant ocean views, mountainous landscapes and lush fields. There were small residential communities scattered along the way. At one point Rick stopped and pointed out in the distance, Diamante-the tallest waterfall in Costa Rica.

About 9 km in we turned into the small development we’d come to see. The lot was attractive bordered by a ravine on the side and bottom with a beautiful view of the Diamante valley and the Diamante waterfall itself (it was spectacular as we saw it, and apparently the top part was hidden by the mist and clouds). The lot also had an ocean view or so Rick told us, he could see it between clouds, but we could not.

Rick was super helpful in telling us about things we needed to know in order to build and approximate costs to have work done. He told us about the merits of various trees growing on the land and what you could and couldn’t build on that lot.

It was definitely a nice piece of property but being the first piece we’d seen we had further looking to do and told Rick as much.

Rick’s Lot

We spent the rest of the day exploring the back roads of Tinamaste and soaked in the wonderful vistas that were reminiscent of New Zealand even dotted with what appeared to be sheep ( upon closer scrutiny I realized they were goats), and later when there was a break in the clouds, witnessed expansive ocean views. Whilst it was clear we returned to Rick’s lots and saw that there was indeed a fairly expansive ocean view.

Ricks Lot Ocean View
Rick’s Lot Ocean View


More Tinamaste Real Estate

On the way back to our Airbnb we stopped at a soda for a bite to eat and a “fruta” drink (a blend of ice, water and native fruits, these soon became our favorite refreshments). At the soda, there was a large whiteboard advertising real estate for sale. We inquired and before too long we had an appointment set up to view more land the next day. We had yet to learn that in Costa Rica everyone is a realtor of sorts and almost everything is for sale, for a price.

It gets dark early near the equator so we were back at the cabin early and passed the evening sitting on the deck listening to the jungle sounds until I was chased in by mosquitoes.

I must confess I was a little disappointed by this time because I had yet to see a parrot, toucan, or monkey in Costa Rica. Our Airbnb host had told us that one of the trees right outside the cabin was a wildlife favorite and often frequented by Toucans. As we sat listening to the night sounds it seemed the most frequent sounds of the night were the local dogs having a howlathon and a rooster whose clock was out of whack crowing at the rising moon.

A Video Tour of Tinamaste

If you’re interested in visiting or buying real estate in Tinamaste you might like to watch this video of Tinamaste shot by Living in Costa Rica a YouTuber who shoots videos on, you guessed it, living in Costa Rica. The video takes you through the town of Tinamaste itself and then travels down the road to Tumbas which is the same road we traveled on to view Rick’s lots. You can see for yourself the scenery and gain a sense of the general vibe of the area.

Click on the “Next Post” link below for more on our Tinamaste stay. Or go to our Costa Rica Adventures page for a summary of this site’s key Costa Rican posts.

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